Desert of Desolation III
Sir Blanque - swordsman and handsome, dashing noble half mer-person
Marion - stabby stabby dagger specialist; Nihrain who currently carries the Runestaff
Destiny - Menastrai sorceress covertly raised on Melnibone
Bomilcar - Weeping Waste nomad from a chieftain's family
The characters have just explored a plundered tomb at the entry level of a gigantic pyramid. They know from legends told them by the local tribesmen that there is supposed to be a large magical gem hidden in the tomb of the last Pharaoh of Quarzhasaat. According to the 'dervish' priest they befriended in the ante-temple to the pyramid before they entered, it is one of give gems required to summon the sphere of power of the architect mage known as Martek; he will then be able to destroy a terrible fire lord he originally imprisoned 1,000 years ago. It sounds more complicated than it is - apart from the fact it was the characters who released the fire lord, so they are feeling rather responsible, even though all of this has apparently been foretold.
The tomb is long looted, but the fact that there is no record of the second gem ever having been successfully removed from the pyramid is making the players suspicious. Besides, the pyramid is at least 350' high, and the empty burial chamber was located at the end of a long set of passages sloping down into the earth. This leaves a lot of potentially unexplored space above them in the rest of the pyramid, from which is cascading a lot of water in a well-constructed channel. In other words, the four adventurers reckon that the plundered tomb is a decoy, and that their real goal lies somewhere in a complex above them. At Sir Blanque's suggestion, the group is now about to ascend an oblique sluice-way down which the water thunders to be gathered in a cistern underneath the pyramid; he theorises that it goes in a circle inside the edifice.
With water elementals keeping the force of the onrushing mass off her, and earth elementals to roughen the passage and make it less slippery, Marion climbs up first. She comes across a horizontal passage to her left, leading to what is presumably a level in the lower-middle part of the pyramid; the waters still cascade from above, but this seems safer. Using her shadow teleport ability, she flits into that passageway now that she can see it. She attaches her magical grappling hook to the lip of the stone at the exit to the waters, relying on the earth elemental contained within it to grip effectively, even though the passage here is knee deep in run-off from the waterfall. She is soon joined by the others.
The four walk along the passage and then climb a short vertical shaft into a room with a single door. The party reckons they are now at the far wall of the pyramid relative to their original entry point, only higher. The door obviously leads into the interior at this level.
Yawning and stretching on a large dais set against one wall is a strange creature; an enormous winged lion with the face of a man, it regards the group curiously. "You lot took your time," it says, "I've been waiting for you."
The friendly beast fills the group in on the stories and legends of the region, especially the bit about Martek having defeated and imprisoned what it calls an 'Efreet Lord'. "Martek had five star gems, one of which was part of the seal binding the giant Efreet - you should have that one already." The players nod. "The second is in this pyramid. Number three is in the Temple of Set at the Oasis of the White Palm. The fourth is in the Crypt of Badr-al Mosak. And the last is located in the city of Medinat Muskawoon in the midst of the Sea of Glass. You will need all of them to summon his Sphere of Power, whatever that is - even my knowledge is finite. Oh, and just in case all of that is a bit much to take in at once, since you are outsiders and all, here's a map":
"This is a rendition of the region you are now in, with the pyramid just at the bottom right where the Sandvoyagers' Trail begins, leading through various locations. You're going to need this."
The players thank the creature. "That was a nice little nap", it says, "but Martek did ask me to stay here for a short while and give you this information. Funnily enough, his description of you all was pretty accurate. Right, I'm off home now."
With that, the strange being vanishes.
Umpire's Comments
There are player handouts in the form of maps, but I have changed the layout of the region slightly so as to incorporate it better into this particular campaign. I just gave the players the keyed GM's map, but left off a section in the south that is based on the topography in the original. Basically, the trail loops north-eastwards and then shifts round towards the Oasis of the White Palm, which is the green hex numbered 17 - it is practically directly north of the group's current location. The area in bright white at the top left of the map is the Sea of Glass. Whatever that is.
There are two reasons the sphinx-type creature gives the players a lot of information that basically matches what the priest has already told them, albeit with extra details about the gems' locations. The first is there is a very good chance they have just fought their way in, killing the priest and missing out on his information (after all, this is a D&D campaign). And the second is so that they can correlate the stories; if two separate people/things tell them the same tale, there is a much greater likelihood it is true. In the module, the creature is of course a sphinx, but that seemed a bit too obvious in terms of overloading the characters with bits of our world's mythology at this point. The beastie is basically a servitor of the Balance, in Stormbringer terms. There will be plenty of time ahead to bring in other mythological elements...
Marion - stabby stabby dagger specialist; Nihrain who currently carries the Runestaff
Destiny - Menastrai sorceress covertly raised on Melnibone
Bomilcar - Weeping Waste nomad from a chieftain's family
The characters have just explored a plundered tomb at the entry level of a gigantic pyramid. They know from legends told them by the local tribesmen that there is supposed to be a large magical gem hidden in the tomb of the last Pharaoh of Quarzhasaat. According to the 'dervish' priest they befriended in the ante-temple to the pyramid before they entered, it is one of give gems required to summon the sphere of power of the architect mage known as Martek; he will then be able to destroy a terrible fire lord he originally imprisoned 1,000 years ago. It sounds more complicated than it is - apart from the fact it was the characters who released the fire lord, so they are feeling rather responsible, even though all of this has apparently been foretold.
The tomb is long looted, but the fact that there is no record of the second gem ever having been successfully removed from the pyramid is making the players suspicious. Besides, the pyramid is at least 350' high, and the empty burial chamber was located at the end of a long set of passages sloping down into the earth. This leaves a lot of potentially unexplored space above them in the rest of the pyramid, from which is cascading a lot of water in a well-constructed channel. In other words, the four adventurers reckon that the plundered tomb is a decoy, and that their real goal lies somewhere in a complex above them. At Sir Blanque's suggestion, the group is now about to ascend an oblique sluice-way down which the water thunders to be gathered in a cistern underneath the pyramid; he theorises that it goes in a circle inside the edifice.
With water elementals keeping the force of the onrushing mass off her, and earth elementals to roughen the passage and make it less slippery, Marion climbs up first. She comes across a horizontal passage to her left, leading to what is presumably a level in the lower-middle part of the pyramid; the waters still cascade from above, but this seems safer. Using her shadow teleport ability, she flits into that passageway now that she can see it. She attaches her magical grappling hook to the lip of the stone at the exit to the waters, relying on the earth elemental contained within it to grip effectively, even though the passage here is knee deep in run-off from the waterfall. She is soon joined by the others.
The four walk along the passage and then climb a short vertical shaft into a room with a single door. The party reckons they are now at the far wall of the pyramid relative to their original entry point, only higher. The door obviously leads into the interior at this level.
Yawning and stretching on a large dais set against one wall is a strange creature; an enormous winged lion with the face of a man, it regards the group curiously. "You lot took your time," it says, "I've been waiting for you."
The friendly beast fills the group in on the stories and legends of the region, especially the bit about Martek having defeated and imprisoned what it calls an 'Efreet Lord'. "Martek had five star gems, one of which was part of the seal binding the giant Efreet - you should have that one already." The players nod. "The second is in this pyramid. Number three is in the Temple of Set at the Oasis of the White Palm. The fourth is in the Crypt of Badr-al Mosak. And the last is located in the city of Medinat Muskawoon in the midst of the Sea of Glass. You will need all of them to summon his Sphere of Power, whatever that is - even my knowledge is finite. Oh, and just in case all of that is a bit much to take in at once, since you are outsiders and all, here's a map":
The players thank the creature. "That was a nice little nap", it says, "but Martek did ask me to stay here for a short while and give you this information. Funnily enough, his description of you all was pretty accurate. Right, I'm off home now."
With that, the strange being vanishes.
Umpire's Comments
There are player handouts in the form of maps, but I have changed the layout of the region slightly so as to incorporate it better into this particular campaign. I just gave the players the keyed GM's map, but left off a section in the south that is based on the topography in the original. Basically, the trail loops north-eastwards and then shifts round towards the Oasis of the White Palm, which is the green hex numbered 17 - it is practically directly north of the group's current location. The area in bright white at the top left of the map is the Sea of Glass. Whatever that is.
There are two reasons the sphinx-type creature gives the players a lot of information that basically matches what the priest has already told them, albeit with extra details about the gems' locations. The first is there is a very good chance they have just fought their way in, killing the priest and missing out on his information (after all, this is a D&D campaign). And the second is so that they can correlate the stories; if two separate people/things tell them the same tale, there is a much greater likelihood it is true. In the module, the creature is of course a sphinx, but that seemed a bit too obvious in terms of overloading the characters with bits of our world's mythology at this point. The beastie is basically a servitor of the Balance, in Stormbringer terms. There will be plenty of time ahead to bring in other mythological elements...
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